Line #50 VideoGame/ClockTower1995


1	[[quoteright:277:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clocktower.jpg]]
2
3	-> ''Don't cry, Jennifer.''
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5	''Clock Tower'' is the first entry in the ''VideoGame/ClockTower'' series of SurvivalHorror video games, released in September 1995. The plot features [[HeartwarmingOrphan Jennifer Simpson]], a teenager living in the fictional Granite Orphanage in Romsdalen, Norway. She and her friends (also orphans), Laura, Ann, and Lotte, are adopted by a wealthy recluse named Mr. Barrows, who lives in a mansion known as the ''Clock Tower'', named after its most predominant feature. The game was made available via SNES, [=WonderSwan, PlayStation=], PC and the Nintendo Wii via Virtual Console in Japanese. Versions with new/updated graphics are known as ''Clock Tower: The First Fear''.
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7	The game immediately begins with Ms. Mary, an employee of Mr. Barrows, leading the four girls up towards the Barrows Mansion. She leaves them in the main foyer to go and tell her employer that his new adoptive daughters have arrived and takes an oddly long time of it. After the girls begin to worry, Jennifer offers to go see what's taking them. However, no sooner does she leave the main foyer than one of the girls screams. Jennifer returns to find the room dark and abandoned. She begins to explore the mansion in search of her friends, but soon finds herself hunted by a deformed, murderous little boy who wields a huge pair of scissors. The boy is Bobby Barrows, aka The Scissorman, who will be Jennifer's main stalker and tormentor for the rest of the game.
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9	The game is well-known for its effective [[JumpScare jump scares]]; every time you enter a room, there is a random chance you are either assaulted by Bobby or are faced with some environmental hazard. Sometimes, however, these events do not trigger straight away, [[NothingIsScarier or they might even not happen at all]], which serves to very effectively build up the tension. Notably, the game's director, Hifumi Kono, cited the works of film director Creator/DarioArgento, especially ''Film/{{Phenomena}}'', and, to a lesser degree, ''Film/{{Suspiria\|1977}}'', as the main inspirations for the game's visual style and atmosphere.
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11	[[https://twitter.com/WayForward/status/1679227897913942016 On July 12, 2023]], Creator/WayForwardTechnologies in collaboration with Limited Run Games have confirmed that ''Clock Tower'' will be remastered for modern systems and PC using the Carbon Engine, while including new features such as redrawn artwork, a fully animated intro and motion-comic cutscenes, and an original song performed by Creator/MaryElizabethMcGlynn. It will be planned to be released in early 2024.
12	----
13	!! This game has examples of:
14	* ActionCommands: The Panic button. If an enemy catches up to you, the button has to be pressed rapidly to escape death.
15	* AndroclesLion: If Jennifer frees a crow she encounters while wandering the manor, then one of the better endings will involve a whole murder of them coming to her rescue.
16	* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:In the S Ending, Jennifer can escape with either Laura or Anne, depending on her actions, but not both. Lotte can't be saved, no matter what you do. The canon ending is that [[DoomedByCanon only Jennifer survives]] out of everyone the player encounters.]]
17	* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: Despite being in Romsdal, Norway, very few names actually sound Norwegian at all. Lotte is the most Norwegian, Jennifer is uncommon, but used (though her last name definitely doesn't pass).
18	* AxCrazy: A whole family of 'em! The most explicit would be the Scissorman, an antagonist who wants to kill Jennifer because... well, [[ForTheEvulz just because]].
19	* BittersweetEnding: Every ending where [[spoiler:Jennifer lives through the ordeal]].
20	* CastFromSanity: Early releases of the game had Jennifer's panic meter drain if she [[SprintMeter ran for an extended period of time]].
21	* CatScare: There are two boxes in which either a black cat or Bobby can pop out of.
22	* ChekhovsGun: Should Jennifer help a crow, a murder of crows will help her in the final stage of the game.
23	* CleverCrows: The intelligence of crows is demonstrated when they come to Jennifer's rescue after she previously saved one of them, and attack Mary, who was ritualistically killing them. This is TruthInTelevision; crows can recognize human faces and have been known to befriend and hold grudges against people depending on how they treated the birds.
24	* CreepyChild: Bobby the Scissorman, and his brother Dan. Not that their mother was any better.
25	* CuttingOffTheBranches: While Anne or Laura can survive, the sequel establishes Jennifer as the SoleSurvivor of their ordeal and that Ending C is canon since [[spoiler: a scene has Jennifer shrink back at the mention of Dan's name, something she only learned in Ending C]].
26	* DangerTakesABackseat: If you decide to have Jennifer say "ScrewThisImOuttaHere" and leave her friends to die by driving away in a car, one of the Scissormen is hiding in the backseat, and apparently stabs her while she's on the road.
27	* DroppedABridgeOnHim:
28	** Many of the potential deaths of Anne and Laura. Some of them involve stumbling onto the scene just as they are killed, or their body after the ordeal. Then Scissorman reveals himself and they are forgotten about. By comparison, Lotte gets more dignified deaths (HeroicSacrifice or DiedInYourArmsTonight) at the expense of [[PlotlineDeath being doomed no matter what]]. Given the [[SlasherFilm genre]], this is understandable as their characters [[SacrificialLamb exist only to be killed]].
29	** Endings E and F. [[spoiler:You get them by advancing the plot far enough without seeing Lotte die, or [[TrialAndErrorGameplay choosing the wrong floor in the elevator]]. While ending D has a logical explanation for why Jennifer dies in that ending (Jennifer doesn't uncover information that reveals Mary's true colors and therefore still trusts her), E and F just abruptly kill the player off as punishment for having missed too many plot-critical scenes. In ending F, Jennifer is even KilledOffscreen.]]
30	* DownerEnding: The two endings where [[spoiler:Jennifer reaches the top and dies]], and the two where [[spoiler:she takes the car back to the orphanage]].
31	* DrivenToMadness: [[spoiler:The birth of the twins triggered Mary's obsession with black magic and the occult, leading to her sacrificing people for the human flesh her babies needed to survive]].
32	* EnfantTerrible: [[spoiler:Dan and Bobby Barrows were born as demons. Immediately after birth, they ate their obstetrician's hand and they've only gotten worse since]].
33	* ExpressiveHealthBar: Jennifer's portrait in the bottom-left corner becomes significantly more pained as the panic meter fills up and she gets closer to dying.
34	* FanRemake: Originally had one planned as ''VideoGame/{{Remothered}}'' by Chris Darril until the idea was scrapped and became an entirely different game inspired by ''The First Fear''.
35	* FeatheredFiend: The parrot in the cage you come across. Stay away from it if know what's good for you, unless you want to get pecked to death.
36	* TheForeignSubtitle: ''The First Fear'' in the west, to distinguish it from the sequel which was released here first as just ''Clock Tower''.
37	* GameMod: A [[http://www.zophar.net/utilities/sneslevel/clock-tower-text-edit.html text editor]] is available for the game.
38	* GoryDiscretionShot: The game always fades to black whenever Jennifer is about to die in any number of gruesome ways.
39	* HereditaryCurse: [[spoiler:Thanks to their patriarch's demonic sacrifices, a curse was laid upon the Barrows family that at least one child of every generation would be born as a demon to continue the slaughter]].
40	* IllKillYou: Said by a parrot that Jennifer encounters in one of the bedrooms. (And he ''can'', too.)
41	-->'''Parrot:''' IKEELYOU, IKEELYOU!
42	* ImAHumanitarian: [[spoiler:Since they're demons, Dan and Bobby feed on human flesh]].
43	* ImplacableMan: Bobby stalks Jennifer through the mansion and randomly appears every now and then to attempt to murder her. He cannot be defeated until near the end of the game; until then he can only be hindered at best.
44	* InconsistentSpelling: Is it Barrows or Burroughs?[[labelnote:*]][[WordOfGod Hifumi Kouno]] once used ''Burrows'' in a response to a fan's e-mail, although that might have just been his translator.[[/labelnote]] Laura or Rolla? Ann or Anne?
45	* InterfaceScrew: When Jennifer's panic meter is blue, she's normal and can probably take a hit from most traps (not counting instant kill ones, or any member of the Burroughs family). As her panic meter changes color (from blue to yellow to orange to red), she becomes weaker. Once it's red, not only is she likely to die instantly from the different traps in the mansion, she also starts tripping when she runs. If Bobby is near when this happens...
46	* ItCameFromTheSink: When the faucet in a bathroom found early on is examined, it will pour blood or maggots on Jennifer's hands.
47	* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:Some or all of Jennifer's friends can be killed. Lotte will always die, while only one of Laura or Anne can be saved in the best (non-canon) ending. Jennifer herself dies in endings D-H.]]
48	* KnightsArmorHideout: One of the jump scares you can find is if you [[spoiler: investigate a suit of armor. It falls over and the body of Laura, your friend, is in there. Either she was shoved in there by Scissorsman/Mary or she tried to hide in it. It was most likely a decorative suit of armor and not fitted for a human being. She dies as her chest is compressed and she couldn't breathe. It most likely wasn't quick either.]]
49	* TheManyDeathsOfYou: While it's possible to get killed from the Scissormen, it's also possible to be attacked by a giant baby, stabbed to death in an elevator, or...
50	* MindOverMatter: [[spoiler:One of Dan's psychic abilities, which he occasionally uses to attack Jennifer]].
51	* MightyGlacier: On one hand, thanks to the size of those scissors, Bobby can end up moving hilariously slow; on the other, it's not helped much by the fact that Jennifer herself really isn't a marathon athlete either.
52	* MultipleEndings: There's eight of them. Which ending you get depends on whether or not you make Jennifer figure out the malicious intent of Mary, discover Laura or Anne dead, and do certain other things.
53	* NoBiochemicalBarriers: Averted. [[spoiler:Since they're not meant to be in this world, Bobby and Dan were born badly deformed and actually have very tenuous health. They both live thanks an enchantment on the Barrows mansion that stops time from progressing normally within, but keeps them trapped. Dan, however, rests inside a chrysalis of corpses and blood, developing a "perfect" body so he can leave the mansion and survive outside]].
54	* NothingIsScarier: The game is built around this. For the longest time, you aren't really in any danger or under attack from anything. Most of the time, there's no music, either. The only things you're going to hear for most of the game are Jennifer's footsteps and the creaking of the house. And it is absolutely ''terrifying.'' Because you know, sooner or later, something's bound to come at you. [[ParanoiaFuel But when?]]
55	* OffscreenTeleportation: A justified example. [[spoiler:WordOfGod says Dan is using clairvoyance to watch the mansion, and teleporting Bobby around, thus explaining how he can appear randomly even if it doesn't make sense]].
56	* PointOfNoReturn: Once you enter the cave, you need to use perfume and a robe to pass a guard dog. The perfume wears off after you're past him, and there's only one bottle — your ending is set and you can only advance.
57	* PsychicPowers: [[spoiler:WordOfGod is that Dan has, at least, clairvoyance (through which he watches the mansion), telekinesis, and teleportation]].
58	* RandomEvent: A core part of the gameplay and what serves to make the game so nerve-racking. Several items, rooms, and events are shuffled around so that one may have an entirely different experience each time they play.
59	* RankInflation: Ending S is the best ending you can get.
60	* RecurringBoss: After a certain point, Bobby has a chance of randomly appearing in every room, and he can be quite hard to get away from again.
61	* RoomFullOfCrazy: There's a room with a corpse in it where Jennifer can read the ramblings of someone who was slowly dying.
62	* SanityMeter: We have a panic meter, in the form of Jennifer's portrait. It doesn't do much except make her more likely to be killed by traps, cause her to trip more often, and flash when you should be mashing the panic button.
63	* SchmuckBait: There are a lot of interactive objects that either do nothing, or bring danger upon you. Like looking in a mirror with a reflection that might attack you, or [[TooDumbToLive loudly playing a piano that will likely draw the Scissorman's attention]].
64	** C'mon, get in the car! Look, the keys are right there! [[DangerTakesABackseat No need to check first!]]
65	** Investigating certain things (like [[spoiler:a closed shower curtain]], [[spoiler:a suit of armor]], or [[spoiler:a scream outside]]) triggers bad events (mainly, [[spoiler:the deaths of your friends]]).
66	* SchrodingersGun: Your friends are only considered to be dead by the game if you actually see proof of their death. [[spoiler:This has actual gameplay implications; it means that the only way to get the S-rank ending, where one of your friends survives, is to never ever investigate any strange sounds you hear and never look in any place where a body could be found, because if you do, the game will take the opportunity to declare one of them dead. However, near the beginning of the game, ''not'' investigating a strange noise will trigger the death of one of your friends.]]
67	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: The player can have Jennifer escape the Barrows Mansion almost immediately by using the car in the garage. Jennifer will at first hesitate to drive away, being worried about her friends who are still in the house, but the player can prompt to her to just leave there and then. Needless to say, the endings that result from this aren't the happiest ones: [[spoiler:In the first, [[DangerTakesABackseat Bobby is in the backseat]]. In the second (which happens after a friend is found horribly dead)... Bobby kills Jennifer a few days later]]. There is a third outcome to this scenario: [[spoiler:Should Jennifer head for the car through the courtyard before Anne's death triggers and then leave the mansion with it, the credits will roll and no epilogue appears like in the previous two car endings, implying that without ever coming face-to-face with Bobby, she managed to escape and left her friends behind to die]]. The game marks this as Ending D, though it far differs from the actual Ending D.
68	* ShoutOut: One of the ways Bobby can make his entrance, is [[DynamicEntry by crashing through the stained glass skylight in the stairwell]], alongside Anne, who he has impaled with his scissors. This is a direct reference to the opening of ''Film/{{Suspiria\|1977}}'', where the character Pat Hingle is killed and her corpse is dropped through a prominent stained glass skylight in a stairwell.
69	* SlashersPreferBlondes: Laura is the only blonde girl in the group of orphans and although she ''can'' survive, [[spoiler: she dies in the canon ending.]]
70	* SuperTitle64Advance: The Windows 95 port of the game has been dubbed ''Clock Tower for Windows 95'' on the package and the opening FMV scene.
71	* UpdatedRerelease: The game was re-released on PC and [=PlayStation=] with new scenes, new sounds, bugfixes, and new FMV sequences. The [=PlayStation=] version also featured support for the [=PlayStation=] Mouse where the original Super Famicom version lacked support for its own mouse peripheral.
72	* UnbuiltTrope:
73	** This game is credited as being the first SurvivalHorror game that made a lot of tropes for the genre, but it also gave the player even less to work with than most games under that label do. Jennifer is an ordinary girl who is in way over her head, and has no way to fight back against the horrors she encounters, a style that wouldn't become popular in the genre until the 2010s. The controls are also intentionally awkward and clunky to emphasize how little experience Jennifer has with combat, and the most you can do to escape a threat is to run and hide. The few times Jennifer actually does neutralize a threat, it's either due to sheer dumb luck, or because someone else already figured out how to do it, and all Jennifer had to do was flip a proverbial switch. Finally, the game's MultipleEndings are also used in a way to highlight the tragedy of the situation: [[spoiler:not only is it impossible to save everyone, but the canon ending is ''not'' the GoldenEnding. Almost all the characters are DoomedByCanon, and it's only possible to save a few of them. Even then, the canon ending is [[SoleSurvivor where everyone except Jennifer, ally and enemy, ends up dead at the game's conclusion]]]].
74	** It also codified the PressXToNotDie trope into mainstream video game media. However, what people didn't realize that the whole point of it being included in the first place was to keep the player on edge; to have it so even in the cutscenes, the player remained tense from the constant threat of death instead of the cutscenes providing a moment for the player to breathe and set down their controller. The trope played into the game's SurvivalHorror nature, instead of being included just for the heck of it.
75	* VideoGameCaringPotential: Jennifer can choose to rescue a crow from a cage. If you have done so, [[spoiler:a flock of 'em can come to her rescue in the good ending]].
76	* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: You get the worst ending in the game by [[spoiler:fleeing the mansion in the car without knowing that your friends are dead. Hey, you're the one who ditched the people you care about in order to save your own skin, you deserve to suffer. The ending for escaping in the car after learning that your friends were murdered is still bad, but not quite as much, since you know you can't save them now]].
77	* ViolationOfCommonSense: In order to save one of the other girls and get the best ending, you have to ''ignore'' someone in danger. [[spoiler:Specifically, when you hear a scream from outside in a hallway early in the game, looking out the window will show the girl falling from the second floor to her death. [[SchrodingersGun Do not look out the window, and she will inexplicably be unhurt.]]]]
78	* WhiteSheep: [[spoiler:It's uncertain if Simon Barrows is the Barrows descendant and not Mary, but if so he was a good man, different from his demon-worshipping ancestors and relatives. After the birth of the twins, he reluctantly planned to destroy them and his wife Mary when she became obsessed with black magic, but alas, he waited too long and they were too powerful for him. Mary chose to imprison him and let him go insane rather than kill him]].
79	* WholePlotReference: The game is basically the plot to the horror movie ''Film/{{Phenomena}},'' even down to Jennifer having the same first name and looking very similar to the main character of said movie. (Except in the game, Jennifer is not the daughter of a movie star who gets sent to a decrepit boarding school, nor can she talk to insects.)
80	* YankTheDogsChain: The A rank ending, wherein Jennifer [[spoiler:discovers one of her friends waiting for her at the top of the Clock Tower, and runs toward her... Only for Mary to pop up and kill them right in front of her, before trying to kill her as well.]]

Context VideoGame / ClockTower1995